The Dawn of a New DMI

The transition zone is a tricky place to be a superintendent, as it presents a number of challenges that threaten the health and playability of a course. From weather patterns that range from intense heat and drought to frost and heavy rains, to the constant threat of disease — you need the right tools in your toolbox (and usually lots of them) to help stay ahead of the game.

Chris Vincent is a Certified Golf Course Superintendent at The Reserve at Lake Keowee. Located in upstate South Carolina, the Lake Keowee course is nestled in a sprawling 3,900-acre waterfront community, and located right in the middle of the transition zone, so Chris understands the challenges of keeping his course healthy more than anyone.

“Part of being in the transition zone is that diseases from summer stresses transition from dormant grass to your growing season,” said Chris. One of the most notorious threats the team at Lake Keowee faces is Spring dead spot, and finding an effective solution that can be used across the entire course and across seasons can be challenging. That’s until Chris began using the combination of Maxtima® fungicide and Navicon® Intrinsic® brand fungicide.

Introduced in 2019, Maxtima fungicide and Navicon Intrinsic brand fungicide feature cutting-edge new chemistries. Both solutions are DMIs that can be sprayed on any turf, at any temperature, all year long (subject, of course, to label restrictions). Navicon Intrinsic brand fungicide combines those advantages with the plant health benefits of Intrinsic brand fungicide. When Chris introduced both products into his program, the results spoke for themselves.

“One of the first things we noticed after we made our fall applications is that we had a nice clean, dormant Bermuda grass color. That helped us to really know that something was happening in those areas — that these products were working,” said Chris. “As that developed in the spring transition, we saw earlier green up in those spots, along with completely clean turf.”

What excites Chris the most about the powerful combination of Maxtima fungicide and Navicon Intrinsic brand fungicide are the possibilities they present for Lake Keowee and other courses facing similar challenges. “Now we have the ability to not only treat just a couple areas, or short grass areas. Now we’re going to be able to affordably treat the entire golf course,” said Chris. “Now [other courses] can treat their fairways or their tees and control Spring dead spot at an affordable price point.”

Maxtima fungicide and Navicon Intrinsic brand fungicide are powerful new tools designed to redefine a superintendent’s rotation. With these solutions, BASF is ushering in a new era of DMI-chemistry and the team at Lake Keowee is excited by the benefits they bring to the table. “To see the success and the evolution that these products went through was outstanding,” said Chris.